Have you ever bitten into the perfect apple? Rich and red and when you bit into it, it gave way with a crunch and burst of sweetness in your mouth? Yeah? Well now, imagine a day that’s been going non-stop, people pressing on your every side for things, no time to rest, no time to hardly breathe, no time to feel. And then you get that apple.

Turn it around in your hands for a moment. It’s smaller, no bigger than your fist. Just perfect for middle school lunch trays. And then…that oh-so-wonderful bite.

That was me about…3 minutes ago. When I bit into that apple, I just stopped walking and half-hunched over, the beautiful thing cradled in my hands. It was the most ecstacy, most sublime moment that I have felt all week. The taste was beyond what I had expected…so sweet, so juicy, it just flooded my mouth with…happy. I know I had my eyes shut because I had to open them again to continue walking out of the cafeteria. All lunch period, I had been watching seventh graders throw these unblemished, unbitten wonders of nature into the trash bin, though I longed to beg them for those perfect apples that were about to be discarded. But seventh graders gross me out too much for that, even for apples. So, on my way out, I asked one of the lunch ladies in my sweetest voice if I  may have one and, glory, she said yes!

And then, nirvana!

I walked back through the halls and stairwells to my classroom, ignoring the students all about me, wholly engrossed in this apple. I was surely making noises far too carnal (and, thankfully, low-pitched) to warrant the simple eating of a fruit but I couldn’t help it. Such ecstasy deserved even a hint of carnality. Even now, I’m still licking my lips, trying to not forget what it tasted like, how cool it was in my hands and in my mouth, how refreshing.

THAT was the nicest moment of my day. I miss it already.